‘Star Trek: Picard’ series ends on a high note: Season 3 is a ‘rip-roaring, crowd-pleasing return to form’

Vincent Mandile
·5 min read
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On February 16, 2023, the third and final season of “Star Trek: Picard” premiered on the Paramount+ streaming service. Critics have unanimously praised this last installment of the series as its best yet, landing the show a perfect 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus reads, “Finally getting the band back together, Picard‘s final season boldly goes where the previous generation had gone before — and is all the better for it.”

Four-time Emmy nominee Patrick Stewart stars as retired admiral Jean-Luc Picard. In the 25th century he reunites with the former command crew of the USS Enterprise (Geordi La Forge, Worf, William Riker, Beverly Crusher, and Deanna Troi), who are being hunted by a mysterious new enemy, Vadic. The cast includes LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden and Marina Sirtis. Read our review roundup below. 

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Dave Nemetz of TV Line says, “I’m issuing a red alert to all Star Trek fans, especially the Next Generation faithful out there: If you’ve already abandoned ship on ‘Star Trek: Picard,’ it’s time to beam back onboard. The upcoming third and final season on Paramount+ — premiering Thursday, Feb. 16; I’ve seen the first six episodes — is easily the best season yet: a rip-roaring, crowd-pleasing return to form that finally gives us what we’ve wanted all along, bringing back all our Next Generation favorites for a beautiful and emotional reunion. But it also adds new dimension to those old favorites while sprinkling in a host of intriguing new characters… including the best new Star Trek villain in ages.” 

Witney Seibold of Slashfilm says”Picard” seems to have finally hit its stride. “Season 3 of ‘Picard’ takes place largely on a Federation starship, and most characters are in uniform, behaving professionally. It’s astonishing how refreshing that feels to an old Trekkie like me…Overall, the third season of ‘Picard’ is a head and shoulders above its predecessors. It may be more predicated on action and mayhem than ‘NextGen,’ but so was ‘First Contact,’ and, well, that film wasn’t terrible. This is, essentially, the best ‘NextGen’ movie that we never got. This old Trekkie is grateful for it.” 

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Danielle Solzman of Solzy at the Movies loves the fact that this iconic cast is back together again. “It does feel just a little bit weird that the main ship this season is the U.S.S. Titan–captained by Shaw (Todd Stashwick)–rather than the flagship U.S.S. Enterprise. It’s not the first time that the Enterprise isn’t the main ship (see ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’) but it just feels like it would make more sense to have the reunion on their old Enterprise home. Outside of that, this series has absolutely everything you want in a new Star Trek adventure.” Solzman adds, “All in all, it’s a solid cast and the crew finds a way to make sure everyone gets their respective screen time in service to the story. Instead of a film that’s two hour and change, we’re getting a longform series that allows us to spend some more time with the cast. Whatever works, right?” Amanda Plummer shines as the villain of the season and her family has history with the franchise. “It’s a sense of irony in that Christopher Plummer’s daughter plays the final antagonist in a TNG spinoff series. In case you forgot, the late Plummer was the final antagonist in the final film starring the TOS cast, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. You love to see it.”

Keith Phipps of TV Guide writes, “For the past two seasons, Stewart has revived Picard via Star Trek: Picard, a Paramount+ series focusing on the pulled-out-of-retirement-by-crisis now-Admiral Picard’s adventures with a new crew. But both (largely pretty good) full-season storylines have kept one foot in Star Trek’s past, whether via guest starring roles from familiar faces or plot threads involving unfinished business with major characters: Brent Spiner‘s Data in the first season, John de Lancie‘s Q in the second.” This third and final season continues the return of fan favorites as well. “Fans expecting an eighth season of ‘The Next Generation’ should recalibrate their expectations, if only a little bit. This plays more like a belated fifth installment in the Next Generation film series, telling a big story in which everyone plays a role rather than a string of smaller stories that each shift the spotlight to different parts of the crew.” 

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